Shortfall of £2.2m for new school met by council

A council has agreed to cover a £2.2m shortfall in funding for a new primary school caused by "unprecedented" inflation in recent years.

West Northamptonshire Council said rising costs meant developers' contributions no longer covered the full cost.

The plans are to build a 420-place primary school in an extension to a residential area to the north of Northampton, known as Overstone Leys.

The Conservative authority's cabinet approved the move and will now find a contractor for the school.

Overstone Park Primary School is planned to open with reception learners from September 2025, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The cost of the new school is expected to be £13.65m, with contributions of £10.45m from developers and a further £1m from the Department for Education.

That left £2.2m unaccounted for, which the authority said it would meet through borrowing so the school could be built on time.

It is expected to be repaid through retrospective Community Infrastructure Levy funding from developers, the meeting on Tuesday heard.

Executive director of place and economy at the council, Stuart Timmiss, explained there had been "unprecedented" cost inflation since the development was approved.

He said the council was working on the methodology for future applications to ensure projects received the right amount of developers' cash that better accounted for inflation.

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